


The Terrible Change

by WritingfromtheVoid



Category: Warhammer 40.000, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero
Genre: Alt Familiars, Body Horror, Daemons, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28949580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingfromtheVoid/pseuds/WritingfromtheVoid
Summary: All her life Louise De La Valliere wanted nothing but to be more than her lot in life as a failed mage and noble. Thankfully a certain Architect of Destiny has rolled his dice in her favor in her favor. Now she finds herself with a Familiar best suited to change her fate, for both better and worse.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	The Terrible Change

It was a beautiful day in the depths of Tzeentch’s labyrinth. In as much as there was any measurement of time analogous to a day. The long hours bloomed and died as quick as mayflies. The spaces were painted with fog and overgrown with beautiful weeds here in what was only a tiny instance of the Changer of Ways' great archive.

Today Ohm was feeling that he should've been happy. Yes, happy that was the feeling that eluded him. He was currently reveling in his collection. Armor from the spawn of the anathema, his soul still clinging to the blood stains inside. A gift from a friend, a chaos cult leader, rewarded for his many offerings of children with preservation on a burning cross where his form may experience all it's possible shapes and iterations. An Eldar soul stone stolen from when Ohm borrowed a Daemonette's name and lifted some of their party favors. Everywhere he saw, his tiny space in the Labyrinth was perfect. Except of course for one thing. The simple fact that there was a hole in his world.

"Disgusting," said a voice, possibly Ohm himself, though he could never be entirely sure.

"Perhaps it's a sign of the Lord," said Ohm. The Daemon of the Archive looked and looked at the hole in his world. There were no words to describe it. It was a simple absence, of what even he could not tell. It was an emptiness refused to be defined, and in its own way it was beautiful, just as all paradoxes were. Perhaps it was a long forgotten gift? A scheme yet unfurled. He looked back to next week where all his selves that were, could be and will be, simply shrugged their shoulders at his query. This was here for a reason. For all things exist here for a reason, even if the reason is to have no reason at all.

The Daemon stared at the void with as many eyes as he could yield.

With precision he traced the shape of the absence. It was shaped like....

"My servant who exists somewhere in this universe."

__  
Louise bit back a cough as she inhaled the dust. She opened her eyes to try and find a result.

"Again," she almost choked out, biting back a cough from the dust she'd inhaled. "I can do this again."

A balding man, Professor Colbert looked cautious. He knew that technically speaking that he wasn't supposed to let her. However considering she hadn't actually summoned anything...

"Very well, Louise,"

"I bet you this is the one that'll kill her," snickered a boy in the back.

"Oh stop it," giggled another girl, laughing. "Don't be so morbid."

"That would imply she'd actually succeed at something," another said.

With a heavy heart she lifted her wand. She began chanting. Her first try had been an attempt to cast a spell, but this was different.

"My servant who exists somewhere in this universe..." she trailed off for a moment. She was vaguely aware that some of the students were listening intently. But somewhere in that brief lapse of her attention, a thought came to her head like tick on skin. " and beyond."

More than a few eyebrows were raised.

"Odd choice of words."

"My beautiful divine servant, I beg for your presence from the core of my soul..."

__

The absence became defined, in more ways than just epistemic definition.

Ohm was hesitant, something somewhere was aware of him. This was not good.

For here in the Crystal Labyrinth, among the kin of Tzeentch, to know was to consume and to be known was to be devoured. As Ohm gazed into the void, he tasted something he had not tasted in a long time. Human emotion, raw and unprocessed. A beacon of hope, a desperate want for change. It was so filling. This was not just enough power for an avatar or a manifestation, no this was enough power for a body. Where had this come from? Why was this here?. Ohm closed all his eyes and allowed himself to be known. For if there was one thing, Tzeentch's shards could not resist, it was an unfulfilled wish.

__

What started out as a spell was now a wish. White light gathered at the tip of her wand before fraying into different colors. Through experience or by word of mouth, every student knew what was coming. They waited, with pursed lips, bit back snickers and cloaks ready for the dust. Even hopeful and sympathetic Colbert braced to protect himself from the inevitable.

"Come forward and serve at my side. My beloved familiar."  
__  
This was the materium. Ohm knew this as soon as he felt the pain. Entropy burned him, eating at him faster and faster the closer he got to the physical universe. Flesh and form came next. Fractal wings peeled, and his mosaic of eyes winked out of existence as Ohm scraped probability's skin until it bled and yielded matter for him to wear.

__

There was no more rationality, only a desire. That deep longing for something, anything to be different. For weeks, for months she'd nurtured her hope. Now Louise opened her eyes to watch the light at the tip of her wand. That flimsy stick whose tip held the weight of her entire fate.

Just as expected the light detonated. The dust was even worse this time. Louise's first attempt had already stripped most of the grass from the soil. Without anything to hold the dirt in place, Louise could've coated the entire courtyard, field to walls. The dust instead turned inward as the mages turned the wind to avoid getting dirty. There was silence.

"I'm sorry Louise," Colbert said, trying to rub the dirt from his eyes. He took a deep breath and raised his hands to muffle a brief cough, not wanting to say the rest. "Come by the Headmaster's office later and we'll discus..."

Louise was confused and noted the sudden turn to the attention of her failure.

A boy was sitting, wearing white linen that was far too clean and pristine. A teenager, but like Louise, he was a lot smaller and frailer than someone his age should be. The first thing that stood out was his looks, he was clearly a foreigner to Halkeginia. Olive skin and features that reminded Louise of merchants from the Carth or Rub Al desert. The second thing of note was his eyes. Whatever part of her, that thought that this couldn't get any worse, died when she saw the gray film over his pupils.

Louise wanted to fall to her knees and weep. She felt resentment and anger at this boy, this commoner who had crashed through her dreams. The dust was still clearing and the whole crowd was still quiet, drinking all this in. Little by little the years of bullying, mockery and exclusion were weighed. And she knew, deep in her heart, that all of it combined would never be one one hundredth of the humiliation she was going to face now.

She had summoned a commoner. Not just any commoner but a foreigner. Not just any foreigner but some underfed blind boy. At this point he could've revealed he was sitting because he was a legless leper and Louise would've simply nodded without any surprise that this could be worse. For weeks, for months She prayed by her bedside for her magic to work, but now she was thinking that she should've prayed for Brimir to strike her and leave nothing but a pile of ash.

It seemed her peers were done letting her stew in anticipation. The laughter spread like a fire. Kirche, her long time tormentor, looked conflicted. Where before she had no problem laughing, the red haired girl now looked like she was trying her best not to cringe in embarrassment. Somehow that had punched her harder than the jeers and laughing.

"Let me try again!" Louise spat out as fast as she could. If she went any longer without speaking, she would've broken down right there and then.

"Louise," Colbert said with a stern voice. "I already took the liberty to give you a second chance of questionable legality. To let you do this again wouldn't just be skirting the line but it would be outright blasphemy."  
She looked back at the boy with hate in her eyes. Hate for him, herself and everything and every one who laughed without the decency to keep their amusement to themselves.

"You should be grateful," she said, walking up to him. "You can't even see me but hear this..."

"I see you just fine," he said in perfect Tristanian with a gentle voice fit for a church choir. He had a light smile. She hesitated at that, but she had her obligations. The sooner she got this done, the sooner they'd all get to leave.

"Pentagon of the elemental powers bless this being and bind him as my familiar," she said. She crouched and kissed the bridge of his nose. The runes appeared, white lines scrawling themselves on the caramel skin across his forearm. Where the boy had appeared amused but bewildered, he now had a smile sharp enough to cut glass. He stood up to reveal himself, he was barely an inch taller than Louise. His clothing had appeared simple at first, but standing up showed that it was finer than she'd initially thought. Was that gold laced onto there?

"Madam Louise," said the boy. Colbert and Louise both payed attention. Colbert looked cautious. "I've never been a mage's familiar before. But I look forward to the learning experience. Though I would've preferred to negotiate a contract beforehand."

"Who are you?"

"Oh which name would you like?" he said, practically jumping from his spot. "Names are so easy to patch together. I'll give you an old one, Ohm get of Quesal."

Even though he was smiling, Louise got the impression that he still had his uncertainties. From his linens he extended his branded arm to the both of them, as if it was supposed to mean something. Professor Colbert took the hand in a firm shake. His eyes tracing the runes on the arm. The boys linens were too clean and fine. Perhaps he was a mummer of some kind in some foreign troop. Louise didn't know how she felt about that. A mummer was a step above a beggar boy, she supposed.

"Jean Colbert," he said. Ohm smiled and turned to his new master.

Colbert barely took his eyes off the boy. In the background Louise's acquainted themselves with their new familiars. Saving the worst they had for Louise for later. 

"Class dismissed!" he shouted. Louise was thankful that it was all over. The crowd of mages dispersed either by foot, air or familiar. Each one ready to carry their own story of the event to the rest of the academy. No doubt all a flavor of how Louise finally snapped and kidnapped a poor beggar boy to be her familiar. The last to leave was Tabitha, the definite victor out of all of them with her blue rhyme dragon.

"Aren't you going to fly like them?" asked Ohm, looking at the levitating students.

"As if you can!" she snapped back.

"Do you want me too?"

She stomped hard on the ground. She had no idea who this boy was or where he was from, but she knew she wasn't going to allow such disrespect. She leaned up and pointed her wand right at his nose.

"Mock me like that again," she hissed. "And you'll be lucky if you can even afford to live on dirt after this."

"Ok. But I still need to know if you want to fly or not," Ohm asked.  
__  
Louise led her Familiar like the dog he was. Sidestepping chattering students and simply ignoring anyone who might've seen them or called after them. She felt relieved when she'd arrived in dorm. Ohm looked apprehensive, barely giving any reaction to anything. His cataracts glanced at a changing Louise before moving on to the school supplies on her desk.

While she wasn't going to dignify him by pretending he was more than an animal. However she was still offended that he hadn't at least showed any concern for her modesty. Louise was interrupted from her preparations by the sound of scratching.

She turned to see her familiar sitting on her desk, writing with her quill on her parchment.

"What are you doing?" she said through gritted teeth. Her familiar didn't even bother to turn to her. He turned his head, his face darkened by the blocked candlelight.

When had she lit that?

"Beginning a draft for our contract," he replied. She stomped her foot and he stopped only to dip the quill back into the inkwell.

She looked to the side of her bed, to the hay bed she had intended for what was supposed to be an animal. Familiarship did not grant automatic obedience and usually it was expected that students prepare some implements to tame their familiars. She had of course gotten a riding crop with a thin lash at the tip.

"Familiar."

"Hmm."

"Stop writing and face me," she said. Her familiar had the gall to sigh. He placed the quill back. He had a neutral expression.

"You will cease your insolence right now," she demanded.

"What insolence?" he replied.

"Don't act all innocent with me," she said. "You've done nothing but sink my reputation and be disrespectful, and I still take you in. I'm not afraid to discipline you like a dog."

That smug placid smile, became something of a frown.

"Really now?" he asked. Louise nodded, hitting the crop against her hand for effect. "This has been a disappointing first impression for me as well."

Louise looked like she had been slapped. She hit him on the face with the crop, though she only registered it after the fact. Ohm himself didn't even budge at the hit. He remained completely still, causing there to be a red line from the bottom of one cheek to the top of his eyebrow. Ohm didn't even seem bothered.

He wasn't supposed to get injured. He should've dodged, or at the very least move with the blow. Instead he took the full force of it, letting the tip part his skin. Louise dropped the riding crop.

The lash began to well up with blood. At least that was what Louise thought at first. Something was happening to the skin near the red line, something that dredged up a memory.

When Louise played with her childhood friend, Henrietta, she had gotten hurt when her friend nearly slipped from a rickety floorboard on a dock. Louise had pulled her back and she was the one who ended up falling through and getting hurt . She had gotten a cut with a splinter of wood stuck inside right on her calf. Henrietta had learned how to heal with water at the time, but first she needed to open the wound and remove the wood. So she pressed her thumbs to either side of the cut and parted the skin to better pull it out. Louise was now reminded of what that parting looked like.

The skin moved as the red line deepened, moving slowly and twitching where it severed itself completely. Ohm's lips and eyes showed indifference. The suspicion of what she was seeing felt like cold fingers gently wrapping around her innards. Fingers that well and truly held her guts in a death grip when she could no longer deny that she was beginning to see teeth.

Ohm's eyes stared right at her soul, his face readable even after it had been unzipped. The mouth moved to speak.

"Did that make you feel better?"

And Louise screamed.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment your opinion. I'd like to hear feedback.


End file.
